


A Shadow's Truth

by The_Myth_Rider



Series: The Dragon Who Shadowed An Emperor [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Dragons, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Pre-Time Skip, Secrets, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Myth_Rider/pseuds/The_Myth_Rider
Summary: Edelgard distinctly remembers when Shadow shared the story of when they were mortal, long ago. She especially remembers how they can take on their old appearance at will. Her curiosity and imagination run wild without her consent, but she will at least get Shadow's before she learns the truth.
Series: The Dragon Who Shadowed An Emperor [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610260
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	A Shadow's Truth

It was a bother, really; the curiosity that plagued Edelgard’s mind regarding what Shadow had revealed to her just five years ago. To know that the dragon god had once been human, been mortal, and managed to retain their sense of humanity throughout millennia as a god…it was nothing short of a heroic feat, in her eyes. After all, she long suspected that Rhea had a similar secret. But clearly, whether or not she once had a sense of humanity, it was surely long gone by now.

So, for Edelgard to know that, somewhere beneath the living-metal hide of Shadow, was someone like her…

Why, if she were a cat, she would’ve given many of her nine lives in pursuit of that curiosity.

Edelgard frowned as she hid away in the library late one night, her friends and soldiers resting in the monastery, her eyes locked onto but not really seeing the book before her. How could she pursue this line of inquiry with Shadow? Such a questioning would entail they delve into terribly personal territory for the dragon god. Territory that, while Shadow had struggled to share more of it with her in the past, it was, every time, a great exercise in trust on their part.

Whatever happened in Shadow’s first life, it had left them broken. Edelgard sighed as she closed the book, a bit more forcefully than she probably should have, and stood to return it to its place. She’d have to ask them eventually, the thought would clearly hound her until satiated. But how to approach her dear friend gently enough?

Edelgard sighed as she strode back to her room, and ran a hand through her bangs. Shadow was precious to her, their friendship a dear gift over the years. Especially during Byleth’s absence, that Shadow managed to soothe the pain of. She cherished their bond far too much to jeopardize it so, and yet…the question lingered…

What did Shadow look like, when they bore the face of a human?

As she approached her door, Edelgard’s guard dropped as she fantasized the possibilities. What did they look like? Was Shadow a tall, strapping man with a musculature to match their godly visage, a beard and head of hair to rival their crimson mane? Or were they a young boy, hardly older than she was now, gangly and lean but with the promise of growing to become mighty? Maybe something in the middle, a man who looked so utterly normal that their charm exceeded most?

Or, she thought as she pushed open her door, was Shadow a woman with a beauty and might to rival that of Catherine’s, or Dorothea’s, or Ingrid’s? They were rather ambiguous in their appearance and behavior, after all. Their human form could be any number of possibilities. What if they ended up resembling one of the many lovely women that Edelgard knew?

…what if they resembled Byleth?

As Edelgard entered her room, she immediately scanned it for Shadow. Though they followed her always, as they promised, Shadow maintained their more ghostly presence when others were about. Now that Edelgard was alone in her room, however, the imposing figure of the dragon god melted out of the air. She raised an eyebrow as they swiftly leaped up, grabbed into the wooden beams in the high ceiling of her room and swung so they hung from it upside down, crouched like a bat almost.

“What are you doing, Shadow?”

Shadow looked up-down at her and smirked. Their mane tried to hang down at gravity’s behest, but it was moments like this that Edelgard was reminded of how strange it was. It was not all loose hair that happened to span their tall, but rather like a lion’s mane it ran down it. Quite the sight, then, to see the grinning dragon god upside down with their gravity defying mane.

“It’s hard to enjoy physicality when you’re metaphysical, El.” Shadow cheekily informed her, their grin wide, ears limp and hanging. “It’s not as fun to hang upside down when I technically don’t exist.”

Edelgard simply sighed and shook her head as she made to turn in for the night. As Shadow busied themselves with the rafters of her room, she imagined they were rather restless. They were more than entertained as they followed her around like a ghost, her dear Shadow; but after they revealed their true nature that fateful night, they were far freer with their presence. Only when the pair were alone, though, as both had long since agreed that Shadow’s existence was best kept a secret from the world.

Shadow wasn’t of this world, after all.

As Edelgard brushed out her hair, sat comfortably before her mirror in her nightwear, the questions that had hounded her before returned. It didn’t help that Shadow themself was physically present, draped along the rafters like a metallic cat. If Edelgard couldn’t fend off the curiosity without Shadow being near, the lack of out-of-sight was even worse. She tried to keep the distress from her expression, but before long, a soft thud behind Edelgard alerted her to Shadow’s nearness.

Her eyes flicked up to her reflection, then up higher to meet the dragon god’s blue-gold eyes through the mirror. They were bent low, their height great enough that they would’ve been too tall if they stood properly. Their fluffy red eyebrows were slanted upward, armored jaw tight as they watched her with concern as they tilted their head.

“El…is something the matter? You seem upset.”

Edelgard averted her gaze as she set her brush down, and considered her reply. She couldn’t lie to them, they would be able to know better. But nor did she feel comfortable hiding it from them either…Shadow trusted her, as she did them, their willingness to follow her even when she wore that damnable mask. To linger and support her, even when they once had the chance to leave this world and search for their mate.

Edelgard rose, slowly, and couldn’t help when her hands came together against her chest. She managed to keep from wringing them, thank goodness, but she had to clench them fairly tight to prevent it. As she turned and stepped around the chair, Edelgard more felt than saw Shadow move to stand before her and gently rest their large paws on her shoulders.

“Edelgard, what is it? You’ve seemed a bit off all day, actually. Has something been on your mind?”

Edelgard took a deep breath to shore herself, then touched on her resolved and looked Shadow in the eye.

“May I see you?”

Shadow frowned, head tilted as their eyebrows bunched low over their eyes. But it only took a moment before their ears rose high, eyebrows vanished into their mane and eyes widened. Their hands slid off of her shoulders as they pulled back, just a couple of steps, and rose to their full height. But it wasn’t an imposing sight at all, Edelgard was not intimidated. No, despite the proud stance they attempted, she could see the tense set of their shoulders, and the slight shake to their clenched paws.

Edelgard dared to step forward, and laid a gentle hand on their arm.

“Never you mind, Shadow, it was a thoughtless question. I just…”

She sighed in frustration, and pressed her free hand to her temple as she cringed.

“My curiosity ran rampant beyond my control, and simply would not leave the thought of what you revealed be.”

A mirthless chuckle as she shook her head now, Shadow still silent above her.

“Honestly, you would think I would’ve managed my thoughts better, but I just couldn’t–”

“Do you want to?”

Edelgard’s eyes widened as she glanced up to her companion’s face. Shadow looked calmer now, less rigid than before, but their eyes were still wide. Their long ears were pressed back against their skull, all but buried in the mane there. She took a step back, her hand slipping off of their arm, and shook her head.

“I don’t need to see, Shadow, truly it’s fi–”

“But do you want to see?”

Edelgard pursed her lips, pale eyebrows furrowed over her eyes, and looked askance of the dragon god as she hesitated.

“…yes, Shadow, I…I do.”

Edelgard kept her eyes averted and waited, and expected Shadow to deny her now that she’d made her selfish wish clear. But rather, after the silence reigned in her room for a short time, she heard Shadow shuffle a little.

“Could you…would you turn around, please, El?”

She looked up at them for a moment, surprised, before she nodded and promptly faced away from them. Edelgard even made sure to avoid looking into the mirror, though she could see Shadow’s great size peek into what of the reflection she spied out of her peripheral. A sudden breeze burst into the room, her nightwear ruffled about her and her hair blew past her shoulders. A flash of golden light lit the room bright, and Edelgard just barely noticed Shadow’s form vanish from the mirror.

Silence again…Edelgard waited, eager with her anticipation, but she would be patient for Shadow. She couldn’t hear anything, no breathing, no movement, not even the sudden breeze that had since stilled. She couldn’t even feel Shadow’s presence behind her, the ever present force of the dragon god’s simple existence suddenly gone. The absence was a stark contrast to the world Edelgard had grown used to, since childhood, but she would wait. 

Then, she heard it.

“El…”

The voice was soft, so soft, and almost scared, which pierced Edelgard to her core. The difference between Shadow’s deep, strong godly voice to this gentle, almost raspy, higher voice was striking to say the least. Like some strange middle ground between Bernadetta’s voice and…and Byleth’s, actually.

Edelgard slowly turned around, to give Shadow plenty of time to stop this should they change their mind. But it never came, and not patient enough to wait for herself to turn, she looked over her shoulder. By habit, Edelgard had raised her gaze high, to meet the eyes of the quite tall dragon god. But there was nothing there, and her eyes dropped several centimeters before they alighted on…

A human…woman? A man? Both, or neither?They were masculine and feminine all at once, a dashing figure that both defied humanity and looked oh so very human.

They stood there, in the dragon god’s place, clad in a pair of navy blue breeches, a black trench coat lined with gold and marked with red. The breeches were tucked into large, heavy looking brown-and-black boots, that seemed to have bronze soles. Their clenched fists were adorned with gloves, the fingertips cut off, and those were black as well. The coat’s collar was short but raised, and they almost seemed to duck their head to hide within its protection. 

Nervous and excited all at once, Edelgard bravely stepped forward, and raised her hands to settle them on the navy blue shoulder pads of the coat, that accentuated already fairly mighty physicality of theirs. She hesitated for a moment, to give Shadow another opportunity to stop her if they so wished. When they didn’t, she lifted her hands higher to gently explore their face, the person who was Shadow perfectly still and watching her.

They were handsome and beautiful at once, a strong jaw but rounded cheeks, bushy eyebrows furrowed anxiously over stormy blue eyes. They had a few centimeters on her, but nowhere near the height they had before. Close cropped brown hair that spiked forward over their face, two fluffy tufts before their ears like small sideburns. Edelgard couldn’t help but notice they had the oddest earlobes, the small part of the ear that normally hung low on most people was all but horizontal for Shadow, like a fleshy shelf almost.

Shadow seemed to all but tremble beneath her touch and scrutiny, the corner of their eyes crinkling as they seemed to fight off the urge to shrink into themself further. Their skin, not as dark as Dedue’s but darker than Claude’s, was in stark contrast to Edelgard’s pale skin as she gently stroked their soft cheekbones. As she looked from their wide, up-turned nose back up to their eyes, the tempest of emotion she saw there shocked her.

There was no gold in their eyes now, and the blue wasn’t nearly as vibrant. Though Edelgard noticed their left eyelid fell lower than the other, as if the muscle was too long, a delightfully imperfect trait. But somehow these eyes, dim and imperfect and mortal, struck Edelgard harder than the dragon god’s had. Perhaps it was the knowledge that, beneath the dragon’s living-metal shell, there was a human as soft and weak as any other. Or rather, perhaps it was the maelstrom of emotions she saw in the blue-grey eyes: fear, hope, anxiety, excitement, shyness. And even…was that…were they insecure?

With a shock, Edelgard realized—a part of Shadow was sought her approval.

I know your scars, Edelgard, I have seen them. And I will keep them, protect them and protect you, and I will love you for all that you are.

A nearly forgotten promise Shadow had made to her, several years ago.

One that she would return, now, when Shadow needed it most.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Edelgard stepped closer to them and slipped her arms beneath theirs as she hugged about their strong chest. There was seemingly no swell of breasts, but it was of no importance, not when the sudden rigidity of Shadow’s surprise melted and their arms, smaller but still strong, hugged her back fiercely. Edelgard snuggled closer, and let her face rest above the collar of their cobalt shirt and let her nose brush against their neck. The warmth and softness of another human’s touch was sorely needed in these times, and this great and vulnerable show of trust Shadow had shared made Edelgard’s chest swell with joy and pride.

“Thank you for showing yourself to me, Shadow.” She whispered, softly and quietly against their warm, caramel skin.

She felt a hand gently pet her back, and almost sighed as that soothing voice came again.

“No, El…thank you…”


End file.
